“I do not like playing games. What is wrong with preferring honesty over empty words?”
Calia chuckled, shaking her head. “You got me on that one.” She tilted her head. “So, are you always this big on diplomacy?”
He shrugged. “I have learned well enough from the mistakes of others. I did not get where I am today by being polite and dancing around the real issues.”
“And do you like being where you are?”
“Of course.”
There seemed little to add, so Calia concentrated on finishing her pasta as she wondered when she had actually begun to start liking the guy. Despite everything, he seemed a good man—and she respected his scrupulous honesty, even if it did mean that he aired some unpleasant views in the process. At least she knew where she stood with him. So what if, with the notable exception of his body, he wasn’t perfect? Who was?
“You mentioned earlier that you originally came to Germany because of some business?” His question interrupted her thoughts.
She nodded. “Pretty much. I had a job interview in Frankfurt.”
“What kind of work is it?”
“Economic analysis for an investment firm.”
He stared at her for a few moments, then shook his head. “Economic analysis?”
“Let me guess: you had me pegged as an au pair.”
“There is nothing wrong with being an au pair.”
“I agree completely. I even looked into finding a job as one, the year after I graduated high school.”
“But you did not?”
She shook her head. “I went on a student exchange to Japan instead.”
“I see. And now you are an economic analyst.” He looked her over, his expression shifting. “And that is why you had heard of me.”
“Modest, aren’t you? But yes, that’s how I’d heard of you.”
“And what about the job? Why Germany?”
She shrugged. “One of my specializations was European markets and emerging economic powers in the age of the EU. I’ve always wanted to live here, and this seemed a good time to give it a try. And as for Germany… well, I figured it would be better to find work in a country where I could speak the language.”
“So you speak German, then?”
“And French.”
He raised his brows. “Fluently?”
She nodded. “My grammar isn’t perfect, but I get by.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know.”
“How would you?” She grinned at him. “You never asked. You just made certain assumptions, because I don’t happen to speak any Italian.”
He ignored the observation. “You mentioned something about it being a good time to give working in Europe a try.”
Calia took a sip of wine as their plates were cleared away. “You don’t miss much, do you?”
“I do my best. Though I obviously did miss a few things with you.”
“I’ll consider forgiving you. But to answer your question—the time was right. Dave, this guy I had been seeing casually—or so I thought—proposed to me a few months ago.” She paused while the meat course was served. Braised veal with fresh rosemary, thyme and caramelized shallots.
“I see.”
“I’m sure he dropped hints, but they whizzed right by. I didn’t see it coming at all. It was kind of a wake up call—it made me realize I wasn’t even close to being ready to put down roots.”
She played with her knife and fork, slicing a bit of veal into a far tinier morsel than she needed to. When she looked up, it was to find him watching her, his expression serious. “See, I have a list in my mind of all the things I want to do before I settle down, and living in Europe is pretty much at the top. But, when I got out of university, I found a job right away. I always meant for it to be temporary—so I could save some money before moving on—but I guess I fell into a routine.”
She sighed. “I still feel bad about Dave, though. I mean, when he popped the question, it was such a shock. I probably wasn’t as tactful as I could have been.”
“But now, having divested yourself of such encumbrances, you have decided to make the most of your freedom.” His tone had hardened and Calia looked up to find him watching her with cold judgment in his eyes.
Her irritation returned. How ridiculous, that the onus should be on her to dissuade him of his negative assumptions.
She raised her chin, glaring at him. He wanted to assume the worst? Fine. But that didn’t mean she had to play that game.
“Aptly put, Gio. That’s exactly what I’m planning to do.” She kept her tone neutral, before turning her attention to her veal, which was extraordinarily tender, and clearly far worthier of her appreciation than the man sitting opposite her.
She hadn’t lied to him—she wasn’t even implying anything with her response. If he wanted to interpret it in the worst possible light, she certainly couldn’t stop him. But after this, she had no intention of letting him anywhere near her, anyway. So, he could think whatever he wanted—it wasn’t going do him the least bit of good.
Her resolution fixed, she looked up from her plate to find him watching her, his eyes bright with silver fire. Right then, Calia knew that despite everything, she still wanted Giovanni Diamanti. Even as she acknowledged that truth, she felt the liquid heat of her arousal surging deep inside, urging her to bridge the distance between them, to sink into his kiss and revel in the texture of his flesh against hers.
But—the price was too high. She had no intention of being intimate with a man who didn’t even bother to hide his lack of respect for her.
She broke away from the mesmerizing power of his gaze, resolved upon using every ounce of her willpower to fight against the sensual pull of his presence, and the heady compulsions of her own desire. She only hoped that her willpower would be strong enough to withstand the onslaught.
* * *
They left for the reception not long after, skipping dessert and coffee. Despite her sweet tooth, Calia hadn’t begruged the sacrifice—after the first three courses, she was far too stuffed to even think about dessert.
It wasn’t a long walk, but all the while, Calia was conscious of Gio, beside her. She also noted the lingering appraisals he received from women, and had to grit her teeth against the irrational possessiveness that made her want to stare those women down and mark him as her own. And how ridiculous was that, in the wake of her decision to remain aloof from any advances he might make?
But, even more than the women’s stares, Calia was screamingly aware of Gio’s coiled energy, and of the vibrant magnetism of his presence, so tantalizingly close. Her muscles had tightened with an edged excitement, and every moment she didn’t reach out to touch him was an effort—as if her body were having its revenge for resolving to resist the man.
They turned up a wide street that bustled with honking cars and trucks, swerving motorcycles and puttering mopeds.
Gio paused, turning to look at her. She steeled herself and met his gaze, her expression schooled into calm.
“So, it is just up this street. Remember, we are a couple, very much in the throes of infatuation.”
She just managed to prevent her lips from twitching. “’The throes of infatuation.’” She nodded. “Right.” She drew in a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and gave him a bright smile. “Let’s do it.”
And though she had braced herself, she still felt the tingling jolt of electricity travel through her body when he took her hand. He curled her arm into his, and Calia tried shake off the sudden sense of unreality that settled over her as they resumed their walk.
After all, though it had been a little easier to ignore the strangeness of her situation when they were alone, there was now no escaping the fact that the man beside her was one of the most eminent businessmen in Europe—a man whose methods she had studied and admired. A man who was gorgeous, magnetic and heart-racingly sexy to boot. And, through some trick of circumstance, she, Calia Ryan, would be the woman on his arm this evening.
>
She was about to enter his world—a place of multi-million dollar deals, stunning wealth and dazzling glamour. No small wonder she was suddenly petrified.
So, she did what she usually did under such circumstances. She raised her chin, propped up her smile and determined that no-one was going to have any reason to suspect that she didn’t do this sort of thing on a daily basis. Except that when she glanced at Gio, it was to find him watching her with the faintest of smiles.
She raised her brows. “What?”
“You will be fine tonight,” he murmured. “They do not bite.”
“Want a bet?”
He touched her hand reassuringly as they walked up the front steps of the elegant art gallery whose foyer had been appropriated for the evening. “Smile at them and they will fall in line. They are just men, after all.”
“You think it’s the men I’m worried about?”
He chuckled and rested his fingers over hers briefly. “Just remember. We are wildly enamoured of each other.”
“Right,” she muttered.
They stepped into the vast atrium. Calia let out a gasp in spite of herself as she took in the high central dome, surrounded by vaulted arcades with graceful columns. They walked across marble-tiled floors as Gio led her through the glittering crowds of terrifyingly elegant men and stunningly gorgeous women.
“Gio!”
Calia glanced over to see a stocky man weaving his way through the crowd towards them. The woman clinging to his arm was reed-thin and moved with all the sinuous beauty of a snake.
Gio leaned in towards her. “Paolo and Antonia.” His breath brushed against her ear, sending a thrill along her spine.
“I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” she murmured.
“Not quite.”
She gave him an inquiring look and was caught by his gaze.
The heat of his hand, cupping her cheek. His kiss seared through her body, bringing it awake to his touch. She let out an involuntary moan at the sensation of his firm lips against hers, his tongue thrusting its entry into her mouth. Losing herself in her body’s anticipation of more to come, Calia was only jolted back to the present when he pulled away from her, raising his head to examine her face.
She blinked dazedly at him as she tried to reassemble her thoughts. He flashed her a rakish grin.
“Now you are ready, I think.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Calia was flooded with mortified anger as she realized how easily she had fallen into his sensual thrall. “Why, you…”
Gio shifted his gaze away from her, his expression changing to one of polite greeting. “Paolo, Antonia, so good to see you both.”
Calia gritted her teeth as she greeted the two newcomers with a bright smile and set aside her grievances for a more appropriate time.
“This is Calia,” Gio continued, bestowing upon Calia a heart-stoppingly tender look. She hardly needed to feign her stunned expression as all thoughts of holding herself aloof from him fled—at least for the moment. “She is from Canada.”
Paolo gave her a friendly nod and they shook hands. “A pleasure to meet you, Calia. My friend looks happier with you than I have seen him in some time, and that makes me happy.” His accent was stronger than Gio’s. “Do you speak any Italian?”
“Very little I’m afraid,” Calia replied, liking him immediately.
Antonia, however, was another story. The woman proffered a languid hand as she raked Calia with an assessing gaze. The slight unsteadiness of Antonia’s stance hinted that the drink she held was not her first of the evening.
“You are certainly a dark horse, Gio. I did not realize you were seeing someone,” she intoned, her English thickly accented and her voice drippingly sexy. She took a sip from her drink. “So tell me, Carla, where did he manage to dig you up?”
“Her name is ‘Calia’, darling. And I think you mean ‘where did you two meet’?” Paolo suggested with a fond smile for his wife.
“Of course.” But Antonia’s mocking smile made it quite clear that any slight implied by her phrasing was purely intentional. She looked at Calia expectantly. “So?”
“Oh, I was playing the role of damsel in distress and Gio was kind enough to step in as knight.”
“Really?” Antonia raised a stencilled brow. “Is that true, Gio?” This time, Calia detected a slight slurring in the other woman’s speech.
“I might not have put it in quite those terms, but in essence, yes.”
Calia’s mouth quirked. “Spoken like a true romantic.”
Paolo laughed. “I hate to tell you this my dear, but the Gio I know doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body.”
“You shock me, Paolo,” Calia said wryly.
“No need to worry, my old friend,” Gio interjected with a wink. “Calia assures me that it was my pragmatism she fell in love with.”
Antonia sniffed disdainfully. “Did you really?”
“If Gio says so, then I must have.” Calia cast him a mock-adoring smile. “Though I have little recollection of it, to be honest. I can hardly even remember falling in love…” Calia saw Gio’s eyes narrow warningly. She gave him an innocent look. “…It happened so fast, after all.”
“Love at first sight can be like that,” Gio asserted gravely, but Calia could see a quicksilver glint of appreciation in his eyes.
“You? In love at first sight?” Antonia watched them with a suspicious frown.
“Believe it.” Gio nodded, his expression so solemn that Calia had to struggle to keep a straight face.
“What of you, Calia?”
She gave Paolo a dazzling grin. “Well, it’s not often you meet a man who wears his pragmatism on his sleeve. Really, he quite bowled me over with it, the first time we met, and next thing I knew, I was head over heels.”
Both Paolo and Antonia were watching her with expressions of bemusement.
Gio leaned towards them. “Don’t worry. I don’t understand what she’s saying half the time either. She is very fond of idioms.”
Calia had to laugh. “That must be what first attracted me to you then—my fondness for idioms.” She countered his sidelong glare with a smirk. “Mister Italian Stallion.”
He looked back at Paolo and Antonia. “You see? I am beginning to think she’s a little bit mad. But what can I do?” He shrugged. “Love conquers all, as they say.”
Calia give him a nudge. “That’s right, and lo! How the mighty have fallen,” she added, with a pointed glance at him.
He laughed then—a deep, rich sound that melted her from the inside out. When he grinned down at her, his eyes warm with amusement, she felt herself solidify into jell-o: soft, wobbly and unable to form a single coherent thought. “Well played, tesoro mio. Shall we go find something to drink?”
“Splendid notion.” The steadiness of her voice surprised her. “It was nice meeting you both.”
“Charmed,” Antonia drawled.
“It was a pleasure, Calia.” Paolo gave her a happy smile and she felt a twinge of sadness for the man. He seemed a good, kind person and it annoyed her that he should be so completely in the thrall of someone like Antonia.
Gio shook his head as he led Calia away. Even through the fabric of his shirt, she could feel the tension in the muscles of his arm.
“There will be trouble from that quarter this evening,” he muttered, once they were well away. “Antonia is a nasty drunk.”
“But the epitome of sweetness otherwise, right?”
“If only it were so.”
In their search for champagne, they ran into a number Gio’s friends—many of whom were important members of the Italian business community and beyond.
As she was introduced around, Calia took her cue from Gio, who seemed content with maintaining their pretense of intimacy. For her, the real challenge came in trying to keep her body under control—and make her senses understand that the casual touches and tender smiles Gio seemed intent on throwing her way were not by way of foreplay. They were simp
ly part of the masquerade.
Or so she assumed, until Gio released her hand in order to grab the last two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter’s tray. He handed one flute to Calia with an intimate smile.
“So, I will propose a toast.”
Calia held up her glass, returning the smile in spite of her internal admonitions. “To what?”
“To… what did you say earlier? Playing things by ear?”
Her smile froze. “What if I’ve decided I don’t feel like making music anymore?”
“Then I will have to change your mind. I will have to make it so that you cannot help but move to the rhythm. So that you begin humming in spite of yourself.”
She swallowed. “Is that all this has been about? Seduction?”
He inclined his head. “Two can play at that game, after all. You drove me mad at dinner. Now, I am reciprocating.” He leaned in towards her, so close his lips almost brushed against her ear as he spoke, his tone low and intimate, “I want you, Calia.”
Calia’s breath caught at the harsh urgency in his voice, his tantalizing nearness. Resolutions be damned. She suddenly found herself resenting the thronging crowds around them—she wanted to be alone with him. Now.
She closed her eyes a moment. When she opened them, it was to find him watching her with his predator’s gaze. Though he wasn’t touching her, he was close enough to kiss.
“Let’s get out of here,” she murmured.
His eyes flared with fierce triumph, and he inclined his head. “As my lady commands.” He took her hand and they began making their way through the crowds towards the exit.
“Signore Diamanti!”
Gio paused, but did not turn his head. Calia glimpsed the frown on his face from what she could see of his profile. He started walking again.
“Signore Diamanti! Wait!” The speaker had called out in English. Gio paused once more, then let out an impatient sigh and began looking around the hall, still wearing a dark scowl.
When the call came a third time, Gio’s gaze settled on someone behind her, his sculpted lips thinning, before he gave a hard smile. “Right on cue. My two main adversaries of the week.”
Her Roman Holiday Page 5